Age
by our dancing days
Summary: They gain so much and lose it all, and maybe that's what middle-aged means. / A series of drabbles, based around the idea of turning middle-aged.
1. James Potter, Eleven

**Title: **Age

**Summary: **They gain so much and lose it all, and maybe that's what middle-aged means. A series of drabbles, based around the idea of turning middle-aged.

**Character: **James Potter.

**Notes: **This is a series of drabbles about where particular characters are in their lives when they turned middle-aged. Some will be happy, and some will be sad, but I really hope that you'll enjoy them! Thank you!

* * *

For some reason, middle-aged sounds so _old. _

It sounds like grown-up children and grandchildren and abandoned houses and walking sticks and greying hair and loving glances. It sounds like love and marriage and friendship and hope and knowing that the next half of your life will be the best.

For James Potter, maybe it is.

Because for the last half of his life, he goes to Hogwarts and he meets Sirius and Remus and Peter and _Lily, _darling Lily. He plays pranks and has fun and goes to classes and _lives_ like no other person has lived before.

He has friends and girlfriends and enemies, and soon he has a best man and a wife and enemies.

He has a wife, and, in some ways, he loses his friends; he has a son, and, in all ways, he loses his parents. Life is about living, and gaining, and losing, and making it all worth it.

James isn't stupid; he knows how to _live. _He just doesn't make the most of it while he still can.

"_Come on, Prongs!"_

Maybe middle-aged means getting past the first hurdle to pass the finish line and fall.

Maybe it is simply the fact that you've already lived half of your life, congratulations, please come again.

But middle-aged is just an idea, after all. Is it a day, a thousand days, or more? It's just a fantasy, something that people say for them to feel normal, safe, when they know they've got years left.

Maybe it is just that nobody knows when they'll be middle-aged, and it could be eleven or it could be a hundred and eleven, and surely, that's cruel?

James Potter, in the last half of his life, gains so much and loses it all, and maybe that's what middle-aged means.

Still, though, James has no children to grow up, and no house to abandon and no need for walking sticks, and he has messy, black hair and mischievous, adolescent glances by the time he is middle-aged.

He's only eleven, after all.


	2. Sirius Black, Eighteen

**Notes: **Thank you so much to everyone who read&reviewed the last chapter, it means so much! This has always been an intriguing idea for me. I won't just be doing Marauder-era characters (in fact, I think these are the only two, except maybe Wormtail) or just men, as interesting as they are. For now, though, I hope you enjoy this next installment of Age!

* * *

For some reason, middle aged sounds so far away.

It sounds like watching sunsets when it's only morning, like imagining your graduation before you've got to school, like thinking you love them before you've even talked. It's just that, when you're eighteen, it seems as though you've got your whole life ahead of you.

And for Sirius Black, he only has half.

Maybe he doesn't live it in the best way; at nineteen, he only has two years before Azkaban, and that seems like the _end _of his life, not just over half.

He feels young, and whole, as if he is at the start of his life rather than the end, _finally. _There is something somebody said to him once, when he is eighteen and he has half of his life ahead of him.

_"Age is just a number, but life is an Arithmancy class."_ And in some ways, it's too true.

But in the year of 1978, he's _Sirius fucking Black, _and hell, maybe he can do what he wants, because he's still in his teenage years, and he wants to have his goddamned childhood, for Merlin's sake.

Maybe there's a war coming - and maybe it came a long time ago - but for now, he's just eighteen, and maybe he deserves to live.

He's had a price on his head for as long as he can remember.

"That little Sirius Black won't last long in there as a Gryffindor. Too Gryffindor for Slytherin, and too Slytherin for Gryffindor, they said. After all, it's only a matter of time."

"Did you hear? His parents kicked him out. Disowned him. Won't be long before he's crawling back."

"He's too reckless, too stupid. He's going to get us all killed."

"Don't you know? He was insane even before Azkaban; I give it a few weeks. "

"Oh, they'll catch him alright. He's never been exactly subtle, that Sirius Black. He'll trip up soon enough. "

"He didn't last long, did he?"

Maybe he doesn't last long because he isn't expected to. _Or, _maybe he isn't expected to last long, because he doesn't.

Either way, he dies at the age of 36, but not before he has trodden every walk of life, lived every moment until he is sure there will be no more moments left to fill.

He is reckless, he is stupid, and he gets himself killed, in the end, but nobody can deny he does it bravely. That is the end of Sirius Black, and if age is just a number, maybe it doesn't come quickly at all.


	3. Colin Creevey, Eight And A Half

**Notes: **Oh, this one gets me. Every time. It's just a very different idea that I _love, _and I'm hope you enjoy it too. I'll be doing Albus Dumbledore, Ginny Weasley, Mineva McGonagall, Mad-Eye Moody... and that's all I've had written down so far. More will be added, hopefully, and feel free to suggest any of your favourite characters! Thank you, and enjoy!

* * *

For some reason, Colin hasn't ever thought of the words "middle-aged."

At eight years old - _sorry, _Colin - at eight and _a half _years old, Colin Creevey is a special child who is bright, enthusiastic and maybe a little bit too knowledgeable for this world, but no matter. He'll be great, fascinating, _worth it,_ if not happy.

He's fascinated by his dad's new camera - far from state of the art, massive, and _perfect - _and eagerly takes pictures of every moment, every breath, until he is sure there are no more pictures left to be taken.

His very first photograph is of his dog, Mr. McGraw.

Mr. McGraw isa huge monster of a golden retriever, with a huge of mane of dark gold fur, and just standing, he towers above poor, little Colin. His picture is of Mr. McGraw nudging a pigeon that had fallen out of its nest in the trees above, pawing the ground slightly as if in worry.

Because, despite the fact he has the stature, mane and growl of a lion, Mr. McGraw is a softie at heart, and the pigeon turns out alright in the end.

Maybe Colin doesn't _need _a picture of his mum throwing flour at his dad, but the flour looks like snow, and he finds it captivating in a way only children can.

They're both grinning wide, open smiles that seemed to be so rare, even so young.

It's beautiful, and sometimes he even sees the flour as glittered even if it doesn't sparkle quite so much anymore.

Maybe he doesn't _need_ to snap a quick picture as he falls off his bicycle, but the angle is interesting and his feet look funny that way up anyway. And even if he gets a scraped knee and a broken wrist for his effort, at least he gets a photo out of it too.

Colin is a small boy, but he isn't teased for whatever reason, maybe because he has that joyful, knowing smile that draws people to him.

He doesn't have close friends, or any friends at all really, but he's the type of boy who is happy with the family he is given and, though it would be nice, he's content with not having anything else.

He has his pictures, after all. And they tell a story of his Muggle life, his life before Magic and mystery and pictures that _move, _and for that, they are sacred.

And Colin, right now?

He isn't thinking of secondary school or homework or classes or girls or relationships or magic or anything else that may or may not come in time.

He thinks of toys and football and daydreaming, but not the future.

After all, not many eight and a half year olds think of or even know the words "middle-aged."


	4. Albus Dumbledore, Fifty Seven

**Notes: **Thank you so much for the over-whelming response! I'm so glad you're all enjoying the story so far!

* * *

As all great wizards and Muggles alike have, at some point, pondered over every question in the universe (or so they like you to believe), Albus Dumbledore has indeed thought of being middle-aged.

Of course, in his younger years, he is invincible - untouchable - brave - a Gryffindor. Middle-aged? _Please. _He won't get to that point. He will live forever.

There willl be no middle-aged for Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, if he has any say in it.

Which, of course, he does not.

But still, he's Albus Dumbledore; men like him don't fade out over time, forgotten in the footnotes of history essays, left as a cold, dead body under marble and earth.

_Master of Death _still sounds like such a nice title. A title of importance, and individuality, and getting onto Chocolate Frog cards with more than being the finder of the twelve different uses of dragon blood.

Albus Dumbledore has such a long time, though, to surpass his earlier achievements for something more worthy.

He has all the time in the world.

But now, at the age of fifty seven, maybe he is still a little fearful of the boy who has left the safe and welcoming confines of Hogwarts and his own watchful eye. He is not Headmaster yet, however, and poor old Professor Dippet is too fooled by Tom Riddle's tomfoolery.

Tom Riddle has the potential to be _brilliant, _more brilliant than Albus himself, but he's so close to just... throwing it away.

His youth means nothing to him, as Albus hates him, just a little bit.

Still, though, Albus doesn't think that he is middle-aged. Armando Dippet lived for over three centuries, and he will surpass the frail, old Headmaster with ease, he is sure, so sure.

However, things that Albus Dumbledore is sure of - such as Hallows and Horcruxes and Harry Potter and Gellert Grindelwald - tend to not play by the rules.

As, by the age of one hundred and fifteen, he will find out.

As all great wizards and Muggles alike have ponder over _almost_ every question in the universe, Albus Dumbledore has thought of being middle-aged.

And, as all great wizards and Muggles do, and have done, Albus Dumbledore soon meets his downfall through power and greed and cunning that is all too Slytherin for an invincible, brave, middle-aged Gryffindor.

He doesn't outlive Armando Dippet after all.


End file.
